SMEs & growing businesses
Small businesses carry the same categories of risk as large ones, with none of the balance sheet to absorb them. One fire, one liability claim or one stalled month can end an otherwise healthy business.
The risks we see
What actually goes wrong in this sector.
A single premises
Most SMEs operate from one location. If it becomes unusable, there is no second site to move production to — trading simply stops.
Owner concentration
The business often depends on one or two people. Their absence does not slow the business down; it stops it.
Thin cash reserves
A loss that a large company absorbs from working capital can be terminal for an SME, even when the loss itself is modest.
Informal record-keeping
Claims are settled on evidence. Businesses without current asset registers and management accounts routinely recover less than they lost.
Cover that responds
What we would look at placing.
A starting point, not a recommendation. What you actually need depends on how you operate, and that is a conversation.
Fire & Special Perils Insurance
The building, fittings, stock and equipment.
Business Insurance
Business interruption for the trading you lose while closed.
Public Liability Insurance
Injury or damage to customers, visitors and their property.
Group Life Insurance
Cover for staff, and retention of the people you have trained.
Motor Insurance
Any vehicle used in the business, including personal cars used for work.
Gaps we find when we review existing policies
If you already have cover, start here.
These are the things we most often find missing when we read a policy in this sector. Any one of them is worth checking today, whether or not you ever speak to us.
- No business interruption cover at all — by far the most common and most expensive omission
- Sums insured fixed at start-up and never revisited while the business grew
- Assuming the landlord's policy covers your contents and improvements
- Stock insured at cost price rather than replacement cost